As we reported a few months back, we've partnered with the Third Coast International Audio Festival (TCIAF), a curator of "sound-rich stories", on its ShortDocs Challenge, an annual competition that invites storytelling enthusiasts to create a brief radio piece inspired by the theme of the 2013 JBF Food Conference, appetite. TCIAF encourages entrants to "interpret 'appetite' broadly, from the literal to the figurative. Consider stories of hunger and obesity, craving and satiety, profit and desire."

After some serious listening, the TCIAF team whittled nearly 250 submissions down to eight finalists. Each entry is eligible to receive the People's ShortDoc Award, a honor that will be determined by your votes. The voting period begins today and continues through the end of July; the winner of the PSDA, along with four other winners selected by the Third Coast and JBF staffs, will be announced on August 1. All five winners will be played at the Third Coast Filmless Festival this fall. Meanwhile, we'll select some of our other favorite submissions to be played at the JBF Food Conference in October.